Flying in my gondola

Left – Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Emma Matthews. Cover – Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Taryn Fiebig, Richard Anderson & Shane Lowrencev. Photos – Jeff Busby. Mozart’s  infamous  Don Giovanni  and considered by many to be the greatest opera ever written, is based on the legendary fictional lover  Don Juan , not easily resisted by any woman, no matter her social status or nationality, and whom they loved and despised in the same breath. Opera Australia’s  highly anticipated  Don Giovanni , directed by  David McVicar , focuses on the dark side of the sex addicted nobleman, who cannot control his appetite for conquering every and any woman who crosses his path, regardless of her age or shape. Much like some present day players,  Don Giovanni , keeps a tally of his trophies, with numbers in the thousands, from all over Europe and Asia Minor, and with numbers so impressive, he could easily be dubbed the Wilt Chamberlain of the 18th century. Teddy Tahu Rhodes ...

Opera Australia  has opened its Melbourne season with one of the company’s best-loved productions,  Giacomo Puccini’s  Madama Butterfly –  in this case the revival of Moffatt Oxenbould’s 1997 production of the famed tragic story of  Cio-Cio-San  (cio translates to butterfly) and her American husband. Soprano  Hiromi Omura  dominated the night, and was superb in her role of  Butterfly . Besides possessing a beautiful and silken voice,  Omura  also successfully projects a naiveté and demureness of a young girl in love, as well as that of a woman consumed by total despair at the understanding that her husband intends not to return to her. Tenor  James Egglestone  portrays her husband,  Pinkerton , as lustful, selfish and even arrogant, but he also conveys a somewhat regretful concern for  Butterfly  as well. Just when you thought you could hate him, you almost feel sorry for him. Mezzo-soprano,  Sian...

Left – Claudio Sgura and Martina Serafin. Cover – Claudio Sgura and Diego Torre. Photos –  Jeff Busby Giacomo Puccini’s  Tosca , based on the 1887 French-language dramatic play by Victorien Sardou, was originally set in the summer of 1800, in Rome, when the Kingdom of Naples was threatened by Napoleon’s invasion of Italy; a very turbulent and violent time. Opera Australia’s  latest rendition of  Tosca , is directed by one of Australia’s  most acclaimed theatre personalities, John Bell , who has set the opera, which some critics have referred to as ‘over-familiar’ even ‘old’, in an equally dangerous and brutal period in Italy, the German occupations of Rome of 1943. Martina Serafin  embodying  Tosca , and  Diego Torre  as her artist lover,  Cavaradossi , radiate a special chemistry, which is laden by jealousy as well as great affection. Their performance was thoroughly moving. “Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore,” (I lived for art; I live...